$4.99Puzzle Agent
Nelson Tethers, the FBI's only puzzle researcher, is sent to snowy Scoggins, Minnesota, where the eraser factory has gone quiet and the townsfolk answer questions with brainteasers. Mazes, riddles, cryptograms, gum-chewing hints, gnomes in the forest: a hand-drawn, funny and quietly creepy detective story you can finish in an evening.
Is Puzzle Agent worth it?
Puzzle Agent is worth it if…
- you like detective stories with a weird streak and a dry sense of humor
- you want a relaxed puzzle game where hints are always available and nothing punishes you
- you enjoy hand-drawn art that feels like a comic come to life
- you are after a short, atmospheric mystery you can finish in one or two evenings
Screenshots
A case that starts with erasers and gets much stranger
The White House needs its erasers, and the Scoggins Eraser Co. has stopped answering. All their replies come back as puzzles, so the Department of Puzzle Research sends its sole employee, Nelson Tethers, to the frozen town of Scoggins. What begins as a factory shutdown turns into something darker: townspeople who seem oddly preoccupied, secret societies, strange sounds from the forest, and gnomes that nobody wants to explain. The story is told with Telltale's dry, dark humor, and it keeps twisting: every answer Tethers finds opens another question. You play to find out what is really going on in those woods.
Brainteasers at every turn
The puzzles are the case. Mazes, logic problems, riddles, cryptograms and sorting tasks appear at every turn, and solving them is how Tethers pries answers out of Scoggins. They rarely repeat the same trick twice, and a few will send you hunting for pen and paper. If you get stuck, chew on this: gum wads are scattered around town, and collecting them buys hints for any puzzle. Each puzzle offers three hints, so you are never truly stuck. Solve cleanly and you get a rating for your work, along with an explanation of the solution.
Detective work in a snowed-in town
You investigate the way a detective should: talk to the locals, poke at crime scenes, follow up on whatever peculiar detail the last conversation dropped. Every discovery either feeds the larger mystery crippling the town or uncovers a puzzle that must be solved before the next answer appears. The town itself is a suspect: everyone seems to know something, and nobody says it straight.
How long does it take to finish?
How long does Puzzle Agent take to finish?
It is a short game: most people finish it in roughly four hours, with around 35 puzzles spread through the story. It works well as an evening or two of relaxed sleuthing. Note that the story ends on a cliffhanger that continues in Puzzle Agent 2, so the full mystery spans both games.
Are the puzzles hard?
They vary. Many are gentle logic warm-ups, but a few genuinely tricky ones will have you reaching for pen and paper to work them out. If a puzzle stalls you, there are three hints available for each one, bought with gum wads you find around town, so a hard puzzle is a detour rather than a wall. One honest caveat: a few puzzle instructions are vaguer than they should be, which can make the intended solution unclear.
Is it scary or is it funny?
Both, and the mix is the point. The writing and characters are genuinely funny in a dry, absurd way, but the snowy setting, the hushed soundtrack and the strange sounds from the forest give the story a creeping psychological edge. The gnomes are a good example: ridiculous on paper, unsettling in context. Nothing gets grim or graphic; it is more a slow chill than a fright.
Can you play it with kids?
Probably, with a little company. The puzzles are family-friendly brain teasers, the tone is light-hearted, and solving them together can be half the fun. The touch-friendly controls make it easy to pass around, too. The creepy atmosphere is mild rather than frightening, though very young players might find the forest scenes and the gnomes a bit eerie.
